Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “robber” come from?

Robber comes from Middle English robber, meaning one who robs or steals.

robber (English): A person who robs

Definitions

  1. A person who robs

Ancestry of “robber”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishrobbour—
2Old Frenchrobeorthief; burglar; robber
3Old French-eorAlternative form of -or
4Latin-ator-ator, -er; second-person singular future passive...
5Latin-tor-er
6Proto-Italic-tōr—
7Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
8Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—

Words derived from “robber”

  • graverobber
  • robberish
  • robberly
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →